Category: Fashion

It’s a wonderful feeling to be getting creative again! That means I pulled out my old beading tools… it has been a while indeed!

I find myself with a lot of time on my hands these days to heal and reflect, which is bittersweet as I’m often not one to have a lot of time on my hands on account of I like being busy. Call me a creature of habit, but I did just that – got myself busy.

That means I’ve finally got something to show you after months and months of silence! Oh how fickle life can be. Anyways, there’s a bonus this time… I’ve decided to actually sell some of my creations! Yep, every thing I’m showing off in this post: I made it and I’m selling it in my brand new Etsy store!

Enough of that, here’s the juicy bits: click on the pic to see the listing on Etsy.

I fell in love with these blue glass crystals and had to make something a bit fancy with them and some Swarovski crystals I already had…

Glass bead and crystal necklace with pearl Swarovski crystals

And then was obliged to make some coordinating earrings:

Vintage pearl and blue crystal earrings

I realised I hadn’t made much using gold yet, so I gave it a go and was quite pleased:

Glass bead and gold chain necklace

And this one I just wanted some matchy-matchy fun with copper findings and the copper sparkle in the glass beads. I made matching earrings for this one too! I will list those soon…

Copper glass bead necklace

Then I got stuck into the feathers. But the feathers, thankfully, did not get stuck on me.

I’ve been really busy lately, and thankfully some of this busy-ness is over now so I can start to relax again. I thought I would be able to finish a small project this weekend and decided to spend an hour unwinding with glue.

I recently rediscovered some gold foil I had bought during my Uni days. I’ve also been rather unimpressed with my handbag lately and have started looking in shops for a replacement. But then I thought, why not just make the uninspired inspiring again?! The three ideas met while standing in a queue one day and they have been awaiting their moment ever since.

I even have a before shot, complete with pre-cleaning handbag contents:

Boring, beige, lumpy handbag. And then…

Good goldeness!!

Inspiring again!

I didn’t take any progress photos, but essentially the process was:

Wipe bag down with acetone.

Spray with spray adhesive.

Apply gold foil sheets with a slightly damp brush in a dabbing motion.

Cover with PVA glue.

Let dry overnight.

Peel off PVA glue because you realised it was the wrong glue and it has stopped the gold foil being shiny.

I made the sad realisation tonight that my last few posts have been promises and nothing more. That makes me sad. But no more! Tonight I deliver!

In all honesty while the last few months have been busy and not a lot of fun, I’ve had serious misconceptions about my crafty space. I’ve had to move my sewing room from upstairs to downstairs, and in doing so lost cupboard storage space. I have plans to fix it but as yet no time or budget. I know what I want do. So when I am away from home my crafty space looks like this:

Or sometimes this:

So I get excited about the things I want to make. Then when I get home, I’m confronted by this:

Most of the time, this is where it ends. I go to bed or start another crochet thing when I really should be continuing on with one I started last week. Or the day before. Or three weeks ago.

There has however been the rare moment when something gets made and finished despite the mess. Case in point, you can see one such finished item precariously resting upon Mount Mess on the Velvet Tablelands.

My photos are appalling. Nothing was going to stop me from posting tonight, even appalling photos. I did try to make them a bit arty with some Instagramy-type filers and some creative cropping in Photoshop. Hopefully the artiness hides a bit of how appalling the photos are.

The book sat in the office for a few days before I started this little project. One day Sweetheart picked it up and asked me where I found the book. I said op shop and that I intend to mutilate it. He told me he had read it years ago and thought it was his. I assured him it was not his. It was decided I would proceed with my plans to quash its current form.

I do quite like them, though I’m not confident about their long-term survival. While the video touts them as Christmas decorations, I tried not to make mine too Christmas-y. I stuck hair combs on the back but I’m not sure if this takes anything away from their seasonal biases or turns the wearer into a living Christmas decoration. Time will tell I guess.

So there you have it! Something I made AND posted about! I’m looking forward to making so much more. Oh how I’ve missed this 😀

↑ I remember the creative process on this one, I was feeling Goth-y, and I liked the big bead. So I made the top bar. Then I just kept putting matching things together until I had something I liked! I had a lot of fun with this piece but I do recall it taking a longer time that most of my others 🙂

↑ Another favorite!! The charm was actually from an older pair of favourite earrings, you can see the black coating has started to come off in parts. The earring hooks were in a much worse state, and while I could have just replaced them, it was more fun to create something new. I still have the other earring, it’s waiting in my bead box for the right moment!

Woohoo! It’s a good week when you don’t have to think about what you’re going to wear in the morning. As I was planning the shoot, I planned what I’d wear each day – The only thing I had to concentrate on was not spilling my lunch down the front. Success!

Day 6: Tuesday

Today’s ensemble was one Me-Made Grey Pencil Skirt, made from the same fabric as the No Cigar Dress. No cool piping on this one though. But I did edge the inside of the interfacing with a burgundy satin ribbon, it makes me smile every time I put this skirt on. Today also includes a Me-Modified cardigan – the beige cardigan originally had very boring little round beige buttons, which I replaced with rather interesting slightly larger square brown buttons.

Day 7: Wednesday

To ease into Thursday, here our glamorous model sports an old pink cardigan, also with Me-Modified ‘buttons.’ The original plain round pink buttons were replaced with 10mm round shiny rose beads! We also get more mileage this week from the Gothic Favourite Pencil Skirt worn on Monday (Hey, in and office full of men it’s clean if they haven’t seen it in more than 24 hours.) Ooh, and that’s also a Me-Made earring dangling on the side..!

Day 8: Thursday

Bam! It’s Thursday! Did you see that coming? None of these sultry looks in the office but this Hot Pink Pencil Skirt certainly got looked at. Not enough for a comment (positive or negative) but that’s not what we wear it for. This skirt causes entertaining problems for my colour-scheming mind: What else can you wear with a Hot Pink Pencil Skirt other than White, Black or Grey?

Day 9: Friday

Pay Day! Casual Day! Lots of Good Days all roll into one on Fridays. An no-one can tell this used to be a pillow case! This skirt is a little figure hugging at the moment but still very comfy. I made a few pillow case skirts a few years ago, but this I made a few months ago using a new method I devised (although if I looked someone may have already thought of it.). Personally I think it’s the easiest way to make a pillow-case skirt, I may have to write a tutorial!

Day 10: Saturday

Finally, a day I can work my magic. Like what I am doing to the wooden spoon. This delightfully domestic number is a collection of designer brands, cheap online finds, thrifty op-shopping and a pile of fabric. Yes, the pile of fabric is my Oh-So-Elegant Tea Skirt in black party satin, which I got for $3 a metre. When it’s not sprucing up a Tea Party with family at home (as what happened this fine Saturday), I love dressing this skirt up to the Nines and heading to the Hyatt Hotel for High Tea – the unfinished hem has just the right amount of ‘Devil may care’.

Weee! That was fun, planning the outfits, wearing them for the week, the putting it all back on for the shoot. I doubt I’ll get one shoot for each week that’s left now, but let’s see about getting one more in.

I still have to focus on getting my Me-Made items for September finished… I didn’t anticipate trying a bust enlargement on a pattern would be so vexing…

More gorgeous Spring weather this weekend! I found it somewhat difficult to adjust on Saturday and ended up wearing to many clothes, so my Me-Made scarf spent most of the day in my bag. Look how lovely the day was:

Canberra is most beautiful when the seasons are changing and these trees are everywhere. If you look hard you can see my scarf! But here’s a closer shot:

I crocheted this from a simple pattern when I was first learning from some lovely natural coloured alpaca wool I picked at a market one weekend. My hat was also a bit of a DIY, if you can say that – I tied a piece of lace around the top and added the clip… 🙂

In the afternoon, Sweetheart wanted to go for a drive in the country again. On route, I wanted to take a few shots of my scarf in an arty way, so we pulled over and arranged it on a barbed wire fence!

I only got two shots before a highway patrol car drove past us very slowly… But I think they were more amused than anything 🙂

On Sunday, I got to start a new beading project (more creative compulsion) before Sweetheart wanted to go on a Father’s Day drive so our cat would buy him a present. I don’t object to this, because it means Felix buys me a present on Mother’s Day. He’s a very considerate cat.

Again I decided to throw on something simple and this time combined one of my Me-Made necklaces with a few other store-bought ones 🙂 I love this colour combination. Can you tell which one I made?